THE shortest superstar in showbusiness has a giant piece of advice for anyone threatened by a bully: Walk tall!

Birmingham-born actor Kenny Baker is only 3ft 8in, but the man who appears in all six Star Wars movies as droid R2-D2 has never let anyone push him around.

With hours to go before Revenge of the Sith opens in Birmingham tonight at 12.31am, he became the latest star to back the Evening anti-bullying campaign.

"Nobody has ever bullied me, despite my size. I've only been picked on once, when I was on a dance floor with a brandy in my hand," he said.

"A guy picked me up and swirled me around.

"By the time he'd finished I only had an inch of brandy left so I thought he might as well have the rest. I threw it in his face - and I thought he was going to kill me."

Now 70 and based near Preston, Kenny lived at 34, Haslucks Croft, Shirley, until he was six, when his family moved to Cheltenham. He returned to live in Hampton Lane, Solihull, for the first two years of his married life.

"My parents weren't dwarves so I'm a one-off," said widower Kenny, who has two sons of 5ft 10in and 5ft 8in as well as an 18-month-old granddaughter.

"I tell the Americans I'm the happiest dwarf in Europe, thanks to Star Wars. I've always made good money.

"Being short has never disadvantaged me. Bullies are very insecure people, so you have to stand up for yourself."